A supporter of Ganatantrik Parishad roughed up at FBCCI polls

Top, A man plays a vuvuzela (plastic horn) as part of a campaign for Abdul Haque, a contestant from the Ganatantrik Parishad for the FBCCI polls in Dhaka yesterday. Left, Supporters of different candidates set up camps in front of the FBCCI building. Right, businesspeople line up to cast their votes.
Photo: Amran Hossain

A supporter of Ganatantrik Parishad, an influential panel supported by Annisul Huq, was manhandled when he was going to cast his vote in the biennial election to the country's apex trade body, FBCCI, in Motijheel yesterday.
Witnesses said a group of 15-20 unidentified people swooped on Md Amir Uddin Bipu, a director of Bangladesh Paper Merchant Association, at around 12:40pm and beat him.
The attackers also tore off his panjabi, the witnesses said. The law enforcers rescued Bipu but did not detain anyone in this connection.
During the scuffle with the attackers, Bipu received minor injuries in his head and the left arm.
Bipu was entering the polling centre along with Annisul Huq, a former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
Huq is supporting the Ganatantrik Parishad panel, but is not contesting the election.
“I could not identify the attackers. They carried out the attack suddenly,” Bipu said.
He filed a general diary with the Motijheel Police station in this regard.
After the attack, Huq at a press briefing said they were not taking the attack seriously as such incidents take place in elections.
He said the attack came when he, along with a number of supporters of the panel, was greeting voters in front of the Federation building.
Supporters of the rival group challenged whether he has the right to enter the polling centre, saying he is neither a voter nor a candidate, according to Huq.
Bipu, whose voter number is 943, said he was roughed up as he tried to protect Huq from the attackers.
“I went there only as a former president of the FBCCI. I did not enter the chamber building at all,” Huq told reporters.
“Although it is a small incident, it is unprecedented in the history of the FBCCI,” he said. Huq also said the election was peaceful and he would accept any result.
On the attack, Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed, who is leading the rival panel, said: “It is not my issue. It is up to the election board.”